our work should equip
the next generation of women
to outdo us in every field
this is the legacy we'll leave behind
-progress
-the sun and her flowers, rupi kaur
In 2018's diverse creative landscape, graphic designers have never had more possibilities to create. With more creative possibility, however, comes competition - so 'relevance' is the name of the online game. Our attention spans are getting smaller, and our need for immediate content consumption, is getting bigger, so when it comes to art in pop culture, almost everyone has something to say about it and these days it’s almost always political. By its very nature, art challenges the status quo and when it's shared in public spaces, and competes with dominant ideals, it can become explicitly political.
Today's digital landscape and social media reactors make expressing our feelings towards pop culture as easy as one - done. Style elements and digitized illustrations are being carefully crafted to spread specific messages, and refreshingly, after centuries of controlling the creative expressions of men, women and non-binary people alike, arts continues to defy normative political agendas.
Janais Van Eck, fourth year Rhodes University Design student, says "äll my stuff is political. It's all got a message, you just have to look to see it." Janais design interest lies mostly in animals and the environment, but her latest project focused on body positivity, which is exactly what the world needs to be sharing.
In 1960, feminist art sought to create a dialogue between the viewer and the artwork by including women’s perspectives. Art wasn't made to merely look good, but as a way to make people question the unequal social norms, inspiring change toward equality. Today, we are seeing young designers use more software programs to create designs, but still spreading political and social messages whether they want to or not.
Chene Schoeman, a fourth year Rhodes University Journalism student specialising in Design, is currently building up her identity as a young designer. "There’s definitely always going to be oversexualisation of bodies in media, but there’s a lot more awareness today about these kinds of issues. You can see it in adverts, designs, illustrations - that people are addressing this issue,” declares Schoeman.
“As a designer, I try address this through the colours I use. In a recent series I completed, instead of having red over the line drawing of a naked woman, I used a soft blue because red is typically associated with sex and lust and desire but blue is more beautiful and soft.”
Schoeman explains that in portraying the human body as beautiful, in a non-invasive way, people will be encouraged to embrace it and realise the body is not only a sight for vulgarity and sexuality.
Open-minded, ever-developing, and fiercely feminist in her approach, Schoeman aims to create her political and social identity as wholesome and aware, while challenging design and societal boundaries.
So while it’s inevitable that we gravitate towards art that peaks our own interests, it's evident that the designers play a big role in the messages we receive from what we consume. Young artists are a testimony to culture-conscientiousness, embracing both political and social awareness. If you're both a woman and designer, a lot of that means spreading messages on behalf of an entire gender and making it look good.
#fashion #style #feminism #rhodes #design #adobe #art #graphics #culture #blacklivesmatter #woke #staywoke #art #gifs #body #positive